Passionate Addiction (29 page)

Mitch cleared his throat and slowly Blake turned to meet his friend’s glare. “Sorry,” he muttered. “I didn’t mean—”

“To be such a dickwad?”

Blake inhaled a deep breath and swallowed. “Yeah.”

“Well, think yourself lucky that Alana didn’t hear it. I’d have to kick your ass. And although you deserve it, and I’d definitely enjoy it, you look like you’re suffering enough.”

Blake gave a half-hearted laugh. He did deserve a beat down. The pain of a few broken ribs would be a blessing in comparison to the turmoil that kept him up at night.

“What’s going on, Blake?” Mitch waved his hand lazily up and down in his direction. “This isn’t you. I don’t even know who this is anymore.”

The disappointment hit him square in the chest, almost causing him to stumble back. “Me either,” he whispered. He’d lost himself when Gabi went back to Queensland. Now he didn’t know how to find himself again. Not without her guidance. “I’m in trouble.”

Mitch raised a brow and leaned forward, placing his can on the coffee table. “What kind of trouble?”

Blake continued to pace. He had no idea where to start or if he should even reveal his past. There was too much to tell, too much to hide.

“If you need help, you know you only have to ask. Whatever it is, we can fix it.”

Blake scoffed. If only it were that easy. He knew once the skeletons were out, Mitch would look at him differently, and what would it achieve? There was nothing anyone could do. Yet he couldn’t take the pressure anymore. He needed to lean on someone.

He was such a weak prick.

“Are you into them both? Is that it? You’ve got a thing for Gabi
and
Michelle.”

Blake stopped dead. “No.
Hell no
. I don’t want anything to do with Michelle.”

“Then what’s with the drama? Just tell her to back off.”

Blake shuffled to the couch, sat, then leaned forward to place his head in his hands.

“You’re starting to worry me,” Mitch murmured. “I’ve got this ugly ass feeling in my gut, and the more you put off telling me, the more it freaks me out.”

Blake squeezed his eyes shut, trying to clear his mind. His head was confused, his heart too heavy. He couldn’t see past the image of Gabi, her eyes filled with tears, her mouth contorted in pain. He would do that to her. He would tear her apart.

“She’s blackmailing me.” He opened his eyes and straightened when the weight lifted from his shoulders.

“Blackmailing you?” Mitch drew out the words. “With what?”

Leaning back, Blake pulled his cell from his pocket, scrolled to his messages and clicked on the image Michelle had sent. He handed it to Mitch. A picture spoke a thousand words, which was convenient because Blake couldn’t utter a sound.

He waited, his chest growing tighter with every passing second that Mitch didn’t comment. The silence became deafening, ringing in his ears until the cell was handed back to him.

Damn it.
Blake shouldn’t have dragged anyone else into the situation. It was his battle to fight, his fuck up to fix. It was weak and selfish to lay his troubles at anyone else’s feet.

He was about to open his mouth and beg Mitch to forget what he saw, when his friend’s voice broke the silence. “Tell me what I have to do to help you fix this.”

Two days had passed since the reunion gossip took over cyberspace. Maybe three. Gabi was too emotional to remember.

And still Blake hadn’t contacted her. Not by phone, or email, or Skype, or Twitter, or carrier pigeon. The more time that passed, the less heartbroken she became. Anger was now her best friend. Not even Alana could answer her emailed questions. It seemed Blake didn’t want to talk to anyone about his problem.

She’d plastered on a brave façade for what seemed like an eternity and faced her parents and friends head on, along with their questions of Blake’s fidelity.

“It’s a publicity stunt,” she’d answered to her mom and dad’s carefully worded enquiries.

“He’s going through some private issues back home that I can’t discuss,” she’d explained to Tammy. At least that hadn’t been a lie. She couldn’t discuss it with her friend because Gabi had no clue herself.

Everyone had glanced at her with sympathy, as if she was delusional. Perhaps she was. It seemed even more likely now that she sat in front of her laptop, poised on the brink of purchasing a one way ticket to New York.

On her way home from work yesterday, she’d driven past a billboard that announced the start of an international airlines major flight sale. Coincidence? Maybe. Fate being a conniving little bitch? Most definitely.

Overnight, Gabi had resigned herself to seeing Blake as soon as possible. Even if he called now and explained each of the thousand burning questions haunting her, it wouldn’t be enough. Her insecurities had gone past rational thinking days ago. She needed to see him. To read his expression and not quit pestering him until he caved and told her what the hell was going on.

She’d emailed her university lecturer and left a message for her boss. Neither one of them would be happy with her sudden disappearance, but it was only a matter of time before she ruined her grades or got fired in her current state of distress.

Everything came together nicely in her mind. Her passport was valid. She could pack her suitcase today, work tomorrow, and once her shift finished, she could take the last available flight to Sydney, waiting in the airport until her connecting flight to the US arrived.

There.

Easy.

And the icing on the pathetic excuse for a twenty hour flight was the timing for Mitch and Alana’s engagement party.
Yay me.

It seemed too irrational, even in her crazy state of mind, to spend her entire savings on the trip without speaking to Blake first. Pride had taunted her, demanding that she wait for him to make first contact, yet the appropriate time for him to do so had already passed. Yes, she needed to see him, but not if he planned on breaking up with her as soon as she arrived.

Before she could contemplate the outcome, Gabi reached for her phone and scrolled to his number. Even though the international call fee would send her broke, she pressed the button to connect.

With the first ring, her skin broke out in a sweat, and she wiped her damp palms on her pajamas. The fact that it was ten in the morning and she was still in her nightwear spoke volumes about her motivation, but that was the least of her problems.

The call connected and the split second of silence stopped her heart. The female’s voice that followed shattered it completely.

“Hello,” the woman said, her voice low and sleep-roughened.

“Uh…hello.” Gabi choked on her words.

A woman was answering Blake’s phone. A woman with a voice so husky it sounded like she’d been deep-throating for hours. With less thought than it took to make the call, Gabi pressed disconnect.

“Bloody hell!” She squeezed her phone and clenched her stomach at the emotions threatening to explode. “Argh!” A scream burst from her lips and her mobile went flying across the room. The loud crack when it hit the plasterboard made her crumple to the floor. She crawled on hands and knees to pick it up. “Please don’t be broken. Please don’t be broken. Please don’t be—Motherfucker!”

The screen was smashed, and a chunk of plastic was missing from the back, exposing the electronics inside. This was exactly what she needed—in a completely facetious sort of way.

It didn’t stop her from stalking on her knees to her laptop and slamming her finger down on the Enter button. There! Tickets purchased. It was one thing to drag out the breakup of a short relationship with your long-distance girlfriend. It was another to ruin a highly dependent, long standing friendship.

Blake had some explaining to do, and Gabi wouldn’t rest until she knew what the hell was going on.

“New York, here I come.”

***

Alana swept into Blake’s dining room, placing a tray of cookies down on the table. He watched as she smiled at Michelle who sat across from him, then walked around Mitch at the head of the table, and came to Blake’s side.

Her skin was pale; her beautiful features more tarnished from the flu than when she’d first entered his apartment an hour ago. She shouldn’t even be here, but Mitch insisted on being his wingman when he confronted Michelle, and apparently, Alana refused to stay home.

She leaned into him, and he tilted his ear toward her to better hear her hoarse, whispered tone. “Your phone rang while I was in the kitchen. I’m sorry, I thought it might be a business call and I could take a message—”

Blake leaned back and realized her lack of color came from anxiety, not illness. “That’s fine, Al, no problem. What did they want?”

Her gaze shot to Mitch, then snapped back to Blake. She leaned closer, the heat of her breath brushing his skin. “When I picked it up, Gabi’s name was on the screen. I’m so sorry, Blake. I know you’ve been keeping your distance from her, but I couldn’t help answering.”

He straightened, his heart beginning to beat like he was running a marathon. “How is she? What did she say?”

“I said ‘hello,’ and so did she. Then she hung up. I don’t think she recognized my voice.”

Of course she didn’t. The hits just kept coming. Alana’s voice was barely recognizable to him with the harsh scratching that accompanied her flu symptoms.

“OK.” He nodded, keeping his voice even so Michelle wouldn’t sense his panic. “I’ll sort it out later.”

Alana pulled back, her brow furrowed.

“Don’t sweat it, honey.” He gave her a halfhearted smile. “The situation couldn’t get more fucked up if I tried.”

A pained sigh escaped her lips. She turned and walked away.

Mitch leaned forward, his gaze focused on Alana’s back while she fled the room. “What’s going on?”

“I hate to interrupt,” Michelle sneered. “But I’ve got an appointment in less than an hour. You asked me here to talk, so talk.”

Mitch straightened in his chair, the side of his jaw ticking.

“Fine,” Blake growled. “I asked you here because I’ve had enough. I’m drawing a line in the sand. You blindsided me at the airport, and I’m not taking the risk that you’ll spring that shit on me again. I’ll give you one more opportunity to claim whatever media attention you think you need, then this is over. I’m done.”

Michelle’s head tilted, her gaze slowly turning to Mitch. “He knows?”

“Yeah, I know.” Mitch crossed his arms over his chest. “And I also plan on making your life a living hell if you share those photos.”

Michelle smiled without warmth. “Honey, I’m already there.”

“Yeah,” Mitch scoffed. “I can tell by your manicured nails and designer clothes.”

Her smile turned to a glare, and she pushed from the table to stand. “I don’t need this.”

“Sit. Down.” The command barked from Blake’s chest, loud enough to shock Michelle to plop back into her seat. “You have one opportunity—a club opening, a celebrity birthday, I don’t care. Just name it so we can get this over with. And let me make this clear, we will be seen as friends and nothing more.”

Michelle narrowed her gaze. “Do you think one public appearance at a stupid club opening is going to give me the attention I need? You’ve gotta be kidding. I won’t agree to that.”

Her response was expected and solidified his decision to move forward. “Then do what you have to, Michelle. Release the photos. I don’t give a shit. I’m done.” He pushed from his chair and stepped away from the table.

Moving forward was his only option. He couldn’t continue to fear the future, and he needed to be back with Gabi. He would spend the next century regretting and apologizing for making the wrong decision, both to himself and the woman he loved.

“Wait,” Michelle called.

He glanced over his shoulder and found her standing, her chin high and cheeks flushed.

“Fine.” She raised her brows. “I’ve picked an event—Mitch’s engagement party.”

“Ha!” Mitch laughed. “That’s funny.” Then his face fell. “Wait, you’re joking, right?”

Michelle rolled her eyes and focused her confident stare on Blake. “One night. That’s it. The paparazzi will be buzzing, and I can butter them up with an inside scoop on the happy couple.”

“No.” There was no need to contemplate. It wasn’t an option.

“We could make it work,” Alana’s raspy voice came from behind him. “Sorry.” She smiled sheepishly when he turned. “I was listening from the hallway.”

“No, Blake’s right.” Mitch pushed from his seat and walked to Alana’s side. “It’s our engagement party.” He swiped the loose hair on her cheeks behind her ear. “I won’t let her ruin it.”

“She won’t, will you Michelle?” Alana’s tone was light, but the underlying venom was unmistakable.

Michelle’s lips pulled into a sneer. “Of course not.”

“Alana, no.” Blake couldn’t risk ruining their engagement party. “It’s not an option.”

Alana stepped forward, stopping a foot away from him. “Let us do this for you.” She pinned him with her hope-filled gaze, her eyes sparkling with optimism. “If having her at the engagement party is all that it takes to clear this mess, we’ll be happy to do it.”